Opposition leaders were leery Tuesday of the province possibly spending $100 million or more to buy the assets of the former Bowater Mersey Paper Co.

The province has been in talks with mill owner Resolute Forest Products Inc. of Montreal about the assets, which include 220,000 hectares of land.

Resolute is the province’s largest private landowner.

Premier Darrell Dexter said the province was worried about the possibility of a foreign buyer purchasing the land and shipping the timber out before it was processed, which would be a “significant infringement on the economic interest of the province.”

Dexter said the province has to take control of its own destiny in the forestry and other sectors.

“I say to Nova Scotians that we are sick and tired of watching the future of Nova Scotia being sold off to foreign interests, and that day is over,” he said at Province House.

Dexter didn’t say who the buyer was, referring the question to Resolute, which hasn’t commented on the sale process.

Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie was skeptical about whether there was another serious offer for the land.

“That’s a classic political tactic … to conjure up a bogeyman that the government is intending to slay,” Baillie said.

“Well, if there is a buyer that’s contacted the government, let’s see who it is.”

Richard Garneau, Resolute’s chief executive officer, said at the time of the mill closure in June that its assets totalled about $120 million.

A source familiar with the province’s negotiations with the company said the value “is in that range.”

The government should look at other options for ensuring good use of the land, that don’t included taking on another $100 million or more in debt, Baillie said.

“I think the right role for government here is to facilitate the sale of that land to a responsible buyer, and then to make sure that the proceeds are used for things like the pensions.”

The pension fund for mill workers is about $60 million short, but Dexter said the company’s assets should cover the mill’s liabilities, including pensions.

Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil said he would want to see details of a deal with Resolute on the floor of the legislature, as the Dexter government did with an assistance package last December.

“We can have an open and full debate about whether or not it’s an appropriate deal to go forward with,” McNeil said.

The mill’s assets include the Brooklyn Power Corp. facility and the Oak Hill sawmill.

The province is not looking at buying the sawmill because that could contravene the Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement.

The Communications, Energy and Paperworks Union of Canada was in the dark about the province’s talks with Resolute.

“I know there were all kinds of issues around assets, but I’m not aware of any negotiations,” president David Coles said in an interview from Geneva, Switzerland.

Coles said he put a couple of forest product companies in touch with the province about the Queens County paper mill, where about 300 people worked when it was shut down.

Resolute cited poor economic conditions for the closure.

“As far as I know, there are no negotiations, (but) lots of discussions,” Coles said.

He said the union’s position is that the province should take over Resolute’s extensive Nova Scotia forest holdings.

Coles said the union has taken no position on the mill’s other assets.

The union, based in Ottawa, raised the ire of former Bowater Mersey workers in September when it placed two union locals in trusteeship.

Local members, who had voted against the move, said it gave the union’s national executive board control of the locals’ bank accounts and assets.

The union said it put the locals in trusteeship to assist them during a difficult time.

A former union local official who said in October that Resolute was moving papermaking equipment out of the mill declined comment Tuesday.